HIST 221 Lecture 8: India
1
South Asia
How would American culture and life differ if it was every state for itself (i.e. the Disunited States of
America)?
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Paper: How to choose a topic
I. The Big Jerk’s Rules
A. Time: Prehistory-A.D. 1100
II. Start broad. Then narrow
A. TO NARROW:
When? Where? Who? What?
B. TO CREATE INTERESTING QUESTION:
Why? How?
S-E-X Prostitution Roman How did the life of a Roman prostitute differ from a
modern one?
Religion Christianity Devil When did the idea of the Devil originate, and how
has our concept of the devil changed over time?
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The Rise of the State
I. How did government arise?
A. Robert Carneiro theory
Limited agr land population pressure conflict war gov
B. conflict inevitable
1. hunter gatherers: murder = leading cause of death
a. 25-30% adult males
II. Monopoly on legitimate violence
A. murder & war
B. more common: human sacrifice, mass slavery, killing women
C. victimless crimes: sacrilege, witchcraft, sexual deviance, disloyalty punished by
mutilation, torture, execution
The Origin of Religion
I. ideal human inhabitation = 150
A. face-to-face society
II. inhabitation > 150: how do you trust strangers
A. religion
Geography
I. Monsoons
A. Summer: Northeast winds
B. Winter: Southwest winds
II. 2 large river valleys
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2
A. Indus; Ganges
III. Himalayas = Northeast
IV. Khyber Pass
A. Invasion route into northern India from Central Asia
V. Deccan plateau = south
Harappa (2500-1600 BC)
I. Indus river valley Not subcontinent
A. Afghanistan, Pakistan, NW India
B. Mesopotamia = CT; Harappa = CA x 2
C. +150 cities
D. rivers flooded 2x/yr
II. Mohenjo-Dara
A. 20,000-40,000 ppl
B. Only city w/ walls
C. Destroyed & rebuilt 7x
Youtube: Harappan Civilization https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opj4px4vK9s
(sanitation 2:10-5:22)
III. Unified culture
A. City planning
1. same layout & structure
a. 9m wide streets
b. 5-6 house types
2. same brick size
a. 1800s used as ballast in railroad
3. H20 usage & sanitation
4. Big community baths = biggest building
5. Cities orientated to catch wind (AC, dawg!)
B. Every city missing same things
1. temples
2. palaces
3. few graves, few weapons
4. royal iconography
C. no major class differences
D. REVEAL ABOUT SOCIETY: more egalitarian than Egypt & Mesopotamia
IV. writing undecifered
A. 400 pictographs
1. too many to be phonetic
2. too few to be ideographic
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3
V. Traded w/ Mesopotamia
A. cotton exported; bronze imported
B. Mesopotamians lived in Harappa
1. WHERE’S EVID FROM: strontium in teeth of Harappa cemetery
VI. Art
A. Priest king
1. big eyes = spirituality. Link w/ divinity
B. Dancing Girl
1. big limbs = energy & movement
VII. Collapse (began 1900 BC, disappeared 1600 BC)
A. skeletal disease & violence as population
1. advent of Leprosy & TB
2. cranial trauma more frequent
3. skeletons not in cemeteries most disease & violence
a. 50% cranial damage; 20% leprosy
4. conclusion: lower classes hit hardest
B. EVIDENCE (Mohenjo-Daro)
1. cooking pots strewn across kitchens
2. family of 5 killed in debris from crumbled walls, ceiling
3. +30 skeletons trapped, not buried
4. jewelry & valuables found at highest locations
C. EVIDENCE (other cities)
1. seals simpler
2. drainage deteriorate
3. homes smaller
4. streets not in grid pattern
D. Climate Change
1. EVIDENCE =Arabian Coast sediments
a. reveal landscape changes
i) Sarawati river dried up
ii) Indus changed course
b. eastward migration to Ganges w/reliable monsoon
2. EVIDENCE = cities in a desert
3. causes
a. MAN-MADE
i) deforestation
5m mudbricks in Mohenjo-Daro = trees to burn fuel
ii) overgrazing
b. NATURAL
i) monsoon weakened due to decreasing insolation (solar
energy)
YOUTUBE: Story of India part 1 (21:40-25:05)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZVVFSiSl1s&list=PLLyVseyiBWfwIrAFkAH045zjfMq4g9Jy5
VIII. Discovered 1921
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Document Summary
How would american culture and life differ if it was every state for itself (i. e. the disunited states of. Paper: how to choose a topic: the big jerk"s rules, time: prehistory-a. d. 1100. Monopoly on legitimate violence: murder & war (cid:315, more common: human sacrifice, mass slavery, killing women, victimless crimes: sacrilege, witchcraft, sexual deviance, disloyalty punished by mutilation, torture, execution. The origin of religion: face-to-face society, ideal human inhabitation = 150. Ii. inhabitation > 150: how do you trust strangers: religion. Geography: monsoons, summer: northeast winds, winter: southwest winds. Khyber pass: invasion route into northern india from central asia, deccan plateau = south. Harappa (2500-1600 bc: afghanistan, pakistan, nw india, mesopotamia = ct; harappa = ca x 2, +150 cities, rivers flooded 2x/yr, indus river valley not subcontinent. Mohenjo-dara: 20,000-40,000 ppl, only city w/ walls, destroyed & rebuilt 7x. Iv. writing undecifered: 400 pictographs, too many to be phonetic, too few to be ideographic.
